Barrister: Eleanor Mawrey

Overview:

Eleanor is an experienced barrister practising in serious crime and is ranked in the Financial Crime section of Chambers UK, who said; "she is very easy to work with and connects well with those intrcting her. She has great soft skills." She is a grade 4 CPS Prosecutor and appointed to the SFO B panel. She has been praised for her ability to simplify complex evidence and her success in cross-examining expert witnesses.

Eleanor has considerable experience in the following areas of financial crime:

Bribery and corruption

Fraud including Benefit fraud, VAT evasion and Ponzi scheme

Insider dealing/market abuse

Other FSMA 2000/FSA 2012 offences including miss-selling and contraventions of the general prohibition (unauthorised business)

Eleanor also prosecutes and defends all other types of criminal cases including serious violence, sexual offences and drugs cases. These include:

Attempted murder

Perverting the course of justice

S.18 GBH

"Acid attack"

Honour and hate crimes

Child abuse

Armed robbery

Eleanor is also regularly instructed by various police forces in relation to applications for civil injunctions.

Fraud & Regulatory:

Eleanor is ranked in Chambers UK for financial crime reflecting the quality of this flourishing part of her practice both prosecuting and defending.

In particular, Eleanor specialises in:

Bribery & Corruption: Eleanor is currently instructed by the SFO as first junior in a sensitive bribery and corruption investigation.

Insider dealing / market abuse and other offences under FSMA 2000/FSA 2012. Eleanor acted as junior counsel for the FSA (now FCA) in the successful prosecution of R v Richard Joseph, a case in which she was instructed pre-charge and which attracted one of the highest sentences for insider dealing to date. She was also instructed in the linked high profile case of Operation Saturn (R v Ali Mustafa and others). She is also currently instructed in relation to an investigation into unauthorised business and mis-selling (boiler room fraud).

Fraud: Eleanor regularly appears in cases involving benefit fraud, VAT evasions and other frauds. She is on the SFO B panel and was led by Jonathan Loades in the prosecution by them of a Ponzi scheme (R v Khatab and others). As part of this, she helped draft the SFOs first Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO).

She is experienced in dealing with large document heavy cases with significant reliance on digital evidencing and telecoms analysis. She has been praised for her ability to unpick expert evidence, making it accessible to a jury and her success in cross examining expert-witnesses.

As a result of her work in this area, Eleanor deals frequently with POCA offences and confiscation and restraint matters.

Crime:

Eleanor is instructed across all areas of serious crime. She was led in the prosecution of an attempt murder trial (a drive-by shooting: R v Majid), and in two child cruelty trials, one of which involved the sexual assault of a 9 month old. She is experienced in cases of perverting the course of justice and is respected for her sensitivity in handling hate crimes. On the defence side, she secured the acquittal of a teaching assistant charged with arson at her school and in another matter the acquittal of an armed robbery. Both of these cases were thrown out after Eleanor's successful cross-examination of the Crown's expert. Eleanor also has experience of defending road traffic prosecutions, whether instructed directly or through insurers, including where serious injury has resulted.

Eleanor has considerable expertise in prosecuting and defending drugs offences, especially those where informants and surveillance are used, having been involved in one the leading cases in this field (R v Ashraf Chaudhrey and others CA, R v Vernett-Showers and others CA), which examined the use of participating informants in smuggling heroin from Pakistan. Eleanor has experience in all kinds of importation cases from lorry drivers to "swollowers" and also handles possession and supply cases.

Confiscation & Other:

Eleanor is experienced in all aspects of restraint and confiscation proceeding under Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and regularly appears in such matters including acting as junior a week-long confiscation hearing (R v Q) held entirely in private due to its sensitive and complex nature. Previously, Eleanor was instructed to deal with the restraint for the FCA in Operation Saturn (R v Ali Mustafa and others).

Eleanor is used to dealing with ancillary orders, whether stand alone or following trial. She helped draft the SFO's first Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) and represented the Metropolitan Police Force when one of the first Violent Offence Orders (VOO) was granted. She is regularly instructed by various police forces to deal with their injunctions.